Gates Foundation launches higher ed podcast “To A Degree”

April 7th, 2017

Podcast aims to show how higher education must evolve to better support today's college students.

What: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the launch of a new podcast series dedicated to higher education. By 2025, two-thirds of jobs will require education beyond high school – yet half of students who start college don’t graduate, and a high-income student is five times as likely to have a degree by age 24 than a low-income student.

The profile of college students is also changing. The majority of students are no longer 18- to 21-year-olds who enroll full-time and live on campus. Rather, the majority of students work while going to college, 40 percent are 25 or older, one-third are first generation college goers, and many are low-income students and students of color.

To A Degree aims to show how higher education must evolve to better support today’s college students. The goal of the foundation’s Postsecondary Success team is to help more students – especially low-income and first-generation students – graduate at higher rates, with high-quality degrees or certificates at an affordable price.